Good numbers of catfish were still on tap for anglers at Irvine Lake this week, although the number of really big cats was down. "There was a very good bite on a smaller grade of fish this week", observed general manager Dave Noyes. "We still saw some of the 12 to 16-pound blue cats, but most of what was checked in were the 2 to 8-pound channel catfish."

By far the best producing area was Santiago Flats, although some catfish were caught along the west shore and near the docks. Favored bait was DuMong's shrimp flavor mackerel and Catmando baits.

Crappie anglers continued to score well at night by using a floating lantern and waiting for the food chain to build up under the boat. Berkley Atomic Tubes and Atomic Teasers were the best crappie getters for slabs averaging about a pound.

Bass fishing perked up substantially for midweek anglers, with very good catches of largemouth to 7 pounds reported on Gulp! Batwing Frogs in the shallows of Santiago Flats. A few nice catfish were also taken incidentally by bass anglers. Bluegill and redear fishing remained excellent near shallow submerged vegetation on mealworms and waxworms.

The Kid's Lagoon kicked out some good stringers for families with children age 12 and under.

Outstanding catches of the week at Irvine Lake included:
Jimmy Getty of Silverado, 20-pound catfish on a shaky head worm at Crawdad Point
Kyle Fletcher of Anaheim, 17.0 pound catfish on DuMong's at the flats
Nico Giaimo of Anaheim, 14.2 pound catfish on DuMong's at the flats
Mick Morlan of Orange, 10.0 pound catfish on mackerel at the flats
9-year old Mikayla Freeman of Garden Grove, 5-catfish limit totaling 19.9 pounds on DuMong's at the flats